Jul 14, 2014

New album "Burnt Offering" by The Budos Band coming ...

When it came time to title their new album, one decision was easy:
“This isn’t The Budos Band IV,” proclaims drummer Brian Profilio. “This
isn’t just more of the same.” The Budos Band embarked on an experimental
journey since the release of The Budos Band III in 2010, seeking inspiration from sources far and wide.

While wizards use books of spells and alchemy to mix their masterful
potions, the Budos employ heavy doses of continent-spanning psychedelic
rock to beckon the occult and conjure the supernatural. Hence the title
of the band’s fourth album: Burnt Offering.

“We made a conscious decision to embark on a new sound,” explains
baritone saxophone player Jared Tankel. The heavy, trippy side the group
unveiled on The Budos Band III reaches full flower on new
tunes like “Aphasia,” “Trouble in the Sticks” and particularly the title
track “Burnt Offering.” “We were messing around with an old Binson
Echorec at practice one night and this loop emerged,” recalls bassist
Dan Foder. The droning fuzz guitar is a call to the gods from below and
encapsulates the band’s sonic progression perfectly. “This record is
fuzzy, buzzy and raw, and more obviously psychedelic,” adds Profilio.

Like a cratedigger’s classic from a parallel universe, “Tomahawk”
melds heavy, distorted guitar riffs with bright blasts of brass and
bubbling drums. An eerie, ceremonial vibe awakens the slumbering giant
“Into The Fog” and prods it to life.

Driven by melodies, rhythms, and changes that animate muscle and bone
to move, yet compel the ear to lean in closer, these full-bodied
instrumentals push Budos’ music deeper into new territory.
All lingering traces of touchstones of yore—be they Fela Kuti, Dyke
and the Blazers, or Black Sabbath—have been wholly absorbed and filtered
through the Budos Band’s ever-evolving aesthetic. “We sound nothing
like our first record anymore,” confirms Profilio. Anyone content to
just slap the old “Staten Island Afro-soul” tag on Burnt Offering and move on clearly didn’t listen to the music first.

The group composed more than two dozen songs in the course of making Burnt Offering,
yet only recorded fifteen, further distilling its essence to ten
classic cuts for the full-length release. If a new tune failed to
capture the rambunctious energy of their live show, if it revised
familiar territory or obvious influences, it got cut. Budos was
determined to break new ground. “If any band says that’s easy to do,
they’re fooling themselves—and not writing good enough songs,” insists
Brenneck.
In order to reach the apex of the mountain, the band had to come
together like never before. Always a brotherhood, the time spent writing
and recording Burnt Offerings saw changes that many bands
would have run from, but for the Budos presented opportunities to hone
their craft. “Making this record reaffirmed that we work together
really well,” says Profilio.

Burnt Offering breaks from Budos’ earlier records in another
significant regard: this is their first album without an outside
producer. “We had arrived at a different place sonically and needed see
it through completely ourselves,” says Tankel. They still praise Daptone
mastermind Gabriel Roth, who worked alongside Brenneck co-producing
their first three records, but parting ways at this juncture made sense.

“We know exactly where we’re at,” says Profilio. “We didn’t want to
have to explain ourselves if we were in pursuit of a specific sound or
vibe.”

“We made the demo that got us picked up by Daptone in my parents’
basement when I was eighteen years old,” Brenneck recalls. “This album
is a continuation of that, fifteen years later … with a lot more records
under our belts.”

After all that time, Budos has become more than a band—it’s a
brotherhood. “This is a real family band,” says Brenneck. “Guys who’ve
been making music for a long time, and friendships that run completely
parallel to the music.” They still rehearse religiously almost every
week, even if some of those rehearsals encompass just as much drinking,
socializing, and listening to music as actual practice.

That camaraderie doesn’t evaporate when they put their instruments down. On tour, they hit a brewery or pub for lunch en masse
before sound check whenever possible, and like to stir up trouble.
There are dust-ups and reconciliations. All that kinship comes to a head
when they hit the stage. “We’ve seen some things out there that most
bands don’t get a glimpse of these days,” suggests Tankel. “All of that
craziness just brings us closer together. We couldn’t shake each other
if we tried.”
And capturing the intensity of Budos’ electrifying shows on wax,
making the grooves vibrate with excitement, was one of the biggest
challenges of Burnt Offering. “We record live to tape, with
minimal effects,” Brenneck says. Nowhere to hide, then. The band
insisted that each song push the envelope. No room for filler.

The Budos have traveled far and wide—playing across four
continents—since the band’s inception. A lifetime of world tours and
weekly rehearsals went into the making of Burnt Offering, and
the journey is far from over. As long as there are new audiences to
thrill and sonic frontiers to explore, they’ll forge ahead. “We haven’t
fulfilled our mission,” concludes Profilio. “We’re still very hungry.”

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